Michael Roy Hames García

Michael Roy Hames García is Professor of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Texas at Austin's College of Liberal Arts. He joined UT Austin in fall 2021 after 15 years at the University of Oregon's Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies and 8 years at SUNY Binghamton's English Department. His academic career spans three decades with a Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Dr. Hames-García earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University. His scholarly trajectory demonstrates deep engagement with critical theory and social justice issues across multiple institutions including teaching at correctional facilities like Elmira Correctional Facility and Oregon State Penitentiary.

His research centers on inequalities of race, class, gender, sexuality and disability within the criminal legal system from policing through incarceration and reentry. His work examines community oversight of law enforcement, policing and racialized mass incarceration, and applies critical theory and queer ethnic studies frameworks to these issues. He teaches courses including Policing Latinidad, Abolition/The Carceral State, and Police/Prisons/Inequality.

His scholarly output shows a progression from foundational work on identity theory to contemporary research on criminal justice systems. Early publications focused on identity politics and multiplicity, while more recent work centers on prison movements, policing, and community oversight mechanisms within the carceral state.

• Lambda Literary Foundation's award for Best LGBT Anthology in 2011 for Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader

Professor Hames-García serves on the board of the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), where he occasionally advises on law enforcement litigation strategies. He was an expert witness regarding solitary confinement conditions in a successful civil suit against Columbia County, Oregon. Previously, he served on Eugene, Oregon's Civilian Review Board and Police Commission, and on boards including Sponsors, Inc., Community Alliance of Lane County, and National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies.

He directs the Community Oversight Lab (COL), which studies attitudes, motivations, and experiences of people engaged in overseeing local law enforcement. COL conducts in-depth interviews with officials, volunteers, and community members across California, Oregon, and Texas, examining emotions motivating police reform work and evolving journalistic practices covering law enforcement.